Houthi insurgents have targeted another commercial vessel in the Red Sea, breaking a peaceful 18-day lull of relative security in the region.
The latest attack came days after Israel's airstrike on Iran, the primary sponsor of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
According to the Royal Navy's UK Maritime Trade Operations, the master of the commercial vessel reported an explosion near his ship at about 2.35pm (GMT) on Monday, a second explosion at 3.03pm, followed by a third at 4.37pm. The vessel and crew were unharmed and sailed to their next port of call.
The rebel’s triple strike on the vessel follows the recent Houthi pattern of targeting a ship repeatedly as it transits the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb.
EOS Risk Group identified the vessel as the 80,000 dwt bulker Motaro. Its Automatic Identification Signal was last detected southbound in the Red Sea on October 27, headed to Changjiangkou Port in China.
Motaro is a Greek-owned and -operated vessel that has reportedly not visited Israel over the past three years.
A Houthi spokesman confirmed the attack on Monday night and also claimed unconfirmed attacks on the SC Montreal and Maersk Kowloon in the Arabian Sea. He said the strikes were in retaliation for "the violation by the companies that own them of the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine".
The latest attack is the first Houthi strike on a commercial vessel since the US Air Force bombers hit the militant group's underground missile storage facilities on October 17.
US Central Command has not yet confirmed the strikes.
